Some Lenovo Thinkpad users get an error message at system startup that says, “To interrupt normal startup, press Enter.” According to the reports, the laptop gets stuck at this screen, and users cannot boot into Windows. If you face such an issue on your Lenovo laptop, the solutions provided in this article will help you.
Fix To interrupt normal startup, press Enter error on Lenovo laptop
If your Lenovo laptop is stuck at the “To interrupt normal startup, press Enter” screen, use these suggestions.
- Hard reset your laptop
- Check for damaged hardware
- Reset BIOS
- Update BIOS
- Hardware fault
All these fixes are explained in detail below. Before proceeding, disconnect all peripheral devices connected to your laptop and see if you can boot into Windows.
1] Hard reset your laptop
The first step is to hard reset your laptop. Go through the following instructions:
- Turn off your laptop.
- Disconnect the charger.
- Remove the battery. Skip this step if your laptop has a non-removable battery.
- Press and hold the power button for up to 30 seconds.
- Insert the battery and turn on your laptop.
This method will drain the residual charge from capacitors. Now, check if the issue persists.
2] Check for damaged hardware
One possible cause of this error is damaged hardware. Check your laptop for physical damage. Check all ports carefully. For example, if your USB port is short-circuited due to bent pins, this can be one cause of the error.
3] Reset BIOS
An incorrect BIOS setting might be triggering this error on system startup. I suggest you boot into your system BIOS and reset it to the factory default settings. You can also reset BIOS settings to the default values by removing the CMOS battery. For this, you have to open your laptop. If you are comfortable with opening your laptop, open it and locate the CMOS battery. It is a small silver coin-shaped battery. Now, gently pull the battery out of its socket, wait for a few minutes, and reinsert it with the right polarity.
4] Update BIOS
If resetting the BIOS to the default settings does not help, update it to the latest version. Outdated BIOS can cause several issues on a Windows computer. In such cases, updating it can resolve the issues.
Since you cannot use your laptop, you must use another working computer to download the latest BIOS for it. Visit Lenovo’s official website and enter your laptop’s model number to download the right BIOS firmware.
Now, connect a USB flash drive to the working computer and format it to FAT32. Copy the required BIOS files to the USB flash drive. Insert the USB flash drive into the USB port of the non-working laptop. Turn it on, enter the BIOS, select the USB flash drive in the boot order, and restart your laptop. Your laptop will automatically detect the BIOS file in the USB flash drive. Proceed with the on-screen instructions to update the BIOS. Connect the charger and turn on the power supply to your laptop during the BIOS update process. If the power supply is interrupted during this process, your laptop’s motherboard may be damaged.
5] Hardware fault
If the issue still persists, there might be a hardware fault. Take your laptop to a professional computer repair shop to get it resolved. If your laptop is under warranty, you can contact Lenovo customer support.
That’s it. I hope this helps.
How do I fix the Lenovo startup problem?
To fix Windows startup issues on Lenovo or another laptop, you can run Startup Repair by booting into Windows Recovery Environment. Sometimes, the BCD file might get corrupted. In such a case, you can rebuild BCD.
How do I exit BIOS?
Press the Esc key to exit BIOS. This works on all computers. When you press the Esc key, you will get a pop-up message to save the changes or exit without saving the changes. Select the desired option.
Read next: Windows PC keeps booting into BIOS.
